The advantage of this novel "Towards the Republic" is that it puts Li Hongzhang in a more objective and fair perspective from the perspective of public reading and appreciation for the first time. In the past, only historians would know him from a fair perspective, and most people had a negative impression of him. Towards the Republic restores the true state of history, without exalting a good man or belittling a bad man. Previous education has always described Li Hongzhang, Cixi and Yuan Shikai as bad guys, but "Towards the Republic" is very humanized and puts itself in the shoes of its predecessors. But "Towards the Republic" is not to "rehabilitate" these characters, but to tell people to be kind to their ancestors, because we will become ancestors. We can't always criticize the problems of historical figures with critical eyes, but should pay more attention to their contributions and establish a sympathetic understanding? .
In the eyes of historians, the historical evaluation of Li Hongzhang has already gone beyond the simple word "traitor". However, the popularity of academic achievements does not seem to work, and Li Hongzhang's screen image has not changed much. Li Hongzhang's "brand-new" image in "Towards the Republic" surprised the ordinary audience, and even said it was "rehabilitation" and "conviction". "Towards the Republic" shows a loyal and dedicated Li Hongzhang in front of the audience; Li Hongzhang, who "fights for the country's life and death and does not avoid disaster"; Li Hongzhang, who advocated Westernization and humbly learned from the West; A Li Hongzhang who tried to pull the building to the edge; Li Hongzhang, full of humiliation and struggle; Li Hongzhang, who pursued practical application and worked hard for decades, was doomed to a tragic fate. The most remarkable breakthrough of the play lies in the affirmation of the Westernization Movement, and then puts Li Hongzhang in a very complicated historical context since modern times for historical interpretation, instead of simply making moral, indignant and playful judgments. The greatest contribution of this drama lies in its valuable efforts in restoring the authenticity of historical figures. The significance of this breakthrough has gone beyond the TV art itself.
The producer of the TV series "Towards the Republic" really paid full attention to the research progress of academic circles, absorbed the research results of academic circles well, and let people see the other side of Li Hongzhang. Chinese historians have done a lot of detailed research on Li Hongzhang, and found that Li Hongzhang was not only one of the important promoters of China's modernization movement, but also one of the most outstanding diplomats and politicians of that era. This attitude of "being kind to ancestors" should be said to be an important inspiration left by the play "Walking".
Towards the Republic combs the main lines of "finding a way out" and "establishing a Republican system", emphasizes historical events and historical figures, and deeply reflects on the historical process of the Chinese nation. The historical figures in the film are no longer masked, showing the human nature and emotional side of the characters, with flesh and blood. The choice of the beginning and end of the whole play is well-intentioned. In the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Beiyang Navy was completely annihilated, and the decadent Qing system came to an end. I chose to start from the Sino-Japanese War, so the first episode of this episode is the climax. It also took a long time for the crew to choose the ending event of the play.
Since its broadcast, Towards the Republic has attracted worldwide attention. Undeniably, the most successful place of this work is that it boldly breaks through the stereotyped facial images that historians have formed in the past 50 years or even nearly 100 years, and generally brings many historical figures closer to their true historical features. Because of the huge contrast between it and the fixed ideas and mindset formed by people in the past hundred years, and because it can show its new interpretation of history in front of hundreds of millions of TV viewers with the help of modern media, when TV drama actors strengthen this huge contrast between them and people's stereotyped images with such great special advantages, their influence and impact will be enormous.
Negative evaluation of republicanism
Over-beautification of Cixi and Li Hongzhang, and underestimation of their words and deeds that made mistakes in the country and the people. For example, they think that the failure of 1894 Sino-Japanese War made an excuse for Cixi and Li Hongzhang, but it was put on Weng Tonghe and Zhang Jian. However, what they may see is obviously an abridged version. In the unabridged edition, we can see that Cixi often made wrong decisions, and when she tried to reform after the disaster, she blamed all the past mistakes on others. For example, on her 60th birthday, she spent the national treasury to build the Summer Palace and had no money to buy more warships to strengthen national defense. For example, during the New Deal after the coup of 1898 and the Boxer Movement, both Kang Youwei and Emperor Guangxu were accused of their past self-mistakes. After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, it was a historical fact that Weng Tonghe recommended Kang Youwei to carry out reform and reform, but the dispute with Li Hongzhang was also a fact. Before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, he refused to give money to beiyang fleet many times, even in the name of hawks, completely ignoring the disparity between Chinese and Japanese warships in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, and was accused of defeating Weng Tonghe in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895? .
The drama highlights the Westernization School, but downplays the people who reformed the country, which is suspected of vilifying the images of Weng Tonghe and Emperor Guangxu. Weng Tonghe's thought in history is actually very new. He can be said to be the first mentor of the Reform and Reform, unlike a conservative and narrow-minded actor, who fought with Li Hongzhang for his own self-interest. "Towards the Republic" is suspected of belittling Weng Tonghe and raising Li Hongzhang. "Towards the Republic" aims at reversing the verdict, simplifying Weng Tonghe's antithesis, which aims to highlight Li Hongzhang, and becoming a villain of hypocrites and villains. From the perspective of creative techniques, it is similar to others' uglification of Li Hongzhang before, and it is really not brilliant; For the audience who are not familiar with history, it has caused serious misleading. The play has a new interpretation of westernization movement, Li Hongzhang and other westernization figures, but at the same time, it is suspected of "overcorrection" and oversimplification. The infighting among the westernization factions is fierce, and the contradiction between Li Hongzhang and Zhang Zhidong is deep, which is completely not reflected in this TV series. In fact, expressing these truthfully can make people feel the complexity and richness of history? .
Yuan Shikai is an absolute villain and an absolute careerist in general film and television dramas. In Towards the Republic, Yuan Shikai was a man with political ambitions in his early years, giving people the feeling of being fierce in troubled times. Many viewers expressed their appreciation for Yuan Shikai after watching this TV series. So Yuan Shikai changed from "uncontroversial" to "controversial"? .